Most hand grips used on sporting equipment and tools are designed to provide a cushion for shock absorbing or insulating qualities. In one example, conventional hand grips for golf clubs generally include integral grips and wrapped strip grips. The integral grip includes one or more pieces that are molded from a rubber or plastic material and joined together to form a complete one-piece hand grip, which is easily mounted or inserted, on to the end of a shaft. The wrapped strip grip may include an inner sleeve which is inserted on to the end of a shaft and a resilient strip which is spirally wrapped and secured around the exterior surface of the inner sleeve. The resilient strip is generally made of leather, rubber, foam or a plastic material.
An existing problem with conventional hand grips is that they do not provide heat to a user's hands. In the golfing arena, both professional and amateur golfers alike spend countless hours on the golf course perfecting their skills. The golfer is often exposed to the elements of rain, wind and cold temperatures, which can have an unpleasant effect on the joints, fingers, and hands of the golfer. The joints and fingers become stiff and painful, thus, making it difficult for the person to securely grip the golf club. The elements can also impact the physical properties of the golf club itself such that the hand grip of the golf club becomes hard and inflexible thereby reducing the shock absorbing and slip-inhibiting qualities of the hand grip and further degrading the player's performance. Therefore, there exists a need for an electrically heated hand grip for the shaft of an apparatus, such as a golf club, in order to warm the hands of a user.
Conventionally, electrically heated hand grips have been utilized on handlebars of vehicles. Examples of such vehicles include snow mobiles, bicycles, snow blowers, and motorcycles. One prior art electrically heated hand grip is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,429 to Hollander. The Hollander patent discloses an electrically heated hand grip having an internal sleeve including helical grooves and lands formed on the outer surface of the sleeve and an anchor means. The heated hand grip further includes electrical resistance heating wire which is disposed about the anchor means and inserted within the helical grooves such that the heating wire is helically wound around the outer surface of the internal sleeve. An external protective jacket is molded over the. internal sleeve and resistance heating wire so as to bond and lock the heating wire securely into position thereby providing an integral hand grip. The heating wire is electrically connected to an external power source for generating heat.
Other areas in which electrically heated hand grips have been used include fishing rods. One prior art example is a heated handle for a fishing rod as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,192 to Garrett. The Garrett patent discloses an electrically heated handle comprising a thermally conductive shell which encloses an interior chamber. An elongated, electric heating coil extends longitudinally through the interior chamber and is electrically connected to an external power source, through an on-off switch, for controllably supplying electrical current to the heating coil for generating heat. The heat generated from the heating coil is dissipated within the interior chamber and transmitted to the thermally conductive shell thereby heating the handle of the fishing rod.
One prior art which heats hand grips of golf clubs is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,927 to Coyner. The Coyner patent discloses a golf bag including electrical heating elements which are formed into a plurality of cylindrical receptacles and disposed within the golf bag. Individual golf club shafts are inserted into corresponding cylindrical receptacles so as to surround the grips of the golf clubs and heat the grips as the golf clubs sit in the golf bag. Other examples of heating the hand grips of golf clubs include, U.S. Pat. No. 5,834,738 to Wilson, “Heated Golf Bag Apparatus”, U.S. Pat. No. 3,707,279 to Kalser, “Golf Club and Ball Warmer”, and U.S. Printed Publication No. 20030170013 to Patshkowski et al., “Golf Club Grip Heating Apparatus and Method of Heating Golf Club Grips”.